Welcome back to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays. It is the end of January, and oftentimes New Year’s resolutions start to slow down right about now. We want to make sure you are sticking to the health and fitness New Year’s resolutions you set for yourself just a few weeks back, and part of doing this is making sure you are changing up your workouts. So this week are talking about things you can do to change up your workouts to help prevent workout burnout and to help you exercise consistently.
Generally speaking, human beings are creatures of habit. When applied to our workouts, doing the same thing over and over can get pretty boring and can also prevent you from progressing. Remember, the goal of exercise is to consistently challenge your body so your body has to adapt towards your goal, and part of that adaptation comes from being presented with different challenges.
1) Change WHERE You Are Working Out
Our first tip to combat workout burnout is to change where you are working out. If you currently workout out at a big box gym, try finding a smaller studio that runs boutique fitness classes or offers private personal training, such as Muscle Activation Schaumburg. Or you can find a place that is more recreational in nature, such as a walking path, or an indoor walking track if the weather is not in your favor. Finding different places where you can exercise can keep the workout experience fresh while allowing you to continue to progress towards your health and fitness goals.
Action Step: Do a search online for different boutique fitness studios in your area. This is where you will find some of the best trainers and class instructors around. Look to see what they are offering that is outside of your mainstream fitness experience and contact them to see if they offer a trial experience.
Related: 3 Exercise Tips If You Have A Desk Job
2) Change WHO You Are Exercising With
Our second tip to combat workout burnout is to change who you are exercising with. If you are used to working out on your own, consider finding a group of people to run with. Or if you only do group classes, find a personal trainer to hire to help you customize your workouts. Changing up who you are working out with can change up your exercise experience to help prevent workout burnout.
Action Step: Consider having different days during the week when you workout by yourself versus go to a group class versus work with your personal trainer. Also, if you have been only doing one thing for a while, consider adding in a day or two of something completely different so you can keep doing what you enjoy while sprinkling in some new stimulus.
Related: 3 Exercise Tips If You Don’t Like Going To The Gym
3) Change WHAT You Are Doing When You Workout
Our third tip to combat workout burnout is to change up what you are doing when you workout. This can be applied a couple of ways. First, you can completely change the activity altogether. Instead of running you can lift weights. Instead of doing group fitness classes you can go swimming.
But, another way to look at this is to change up what you are doing within the general exercise category. For example, if you like lifting weights, change up the exercises you are doing or change up how you are doing each exercise. If you like biking, change up the route you are riding. These relatively minor variations will provide a different stimulus to your body and mind that can help keep you interested in and excited about exercising.
Action Step: What exercises or ways of exercising do you do most consistently? Have you changed those up since the turn of the year? A decent rule of thumb to follow would be to plan to change your workouts every four to six weeks. This way, you still get enough exposure to the stimulus to adapt but the stimulus varies enough to keep you interested.
